davell

I think Millar will be a part of the Cubs organization. I think we are going to be the first team to literally hire someone who's job title is "clubhouse chemistry manager". He will be paid to travel with the club, throw shaving cream pies, hold kangaroo courts, and drop water balloons on players.

I didn't even think of it that way. But yeah, changing this and leaving football alone is beyond absurd.

The Tracy signing made some sense and I expect him to make the team. Millar, on the other hand, probably doesn't have much of a shot here(or anywhere else) really. On another note, I think that Micah Hoffpauir's 15 minutes of Cubdom is over.

This news makes me cringe. I guess the top 8 seeds all get byes? The 1st 4 days of the tournament are probably the single best thing in sports to watch for me personally. That goes down the drain now. It's like what was just said: You're basically adding the NIT field to the main field. What's the advantage here honestly? More revenue is about all I can think of and I don't care about that. Goliath finally kicked David's ass for the last time, if this happens.

PFT is saying that Lovie wants Martz and Angelo does not. Even said that Lovie had to pay for Martz' plane ticket for his meeting with Cutler yesterday. This could be one of those things where Angelo goes into "job save" mode, distance himself from it and try to save himself, if it doesn't work out and Lovie gets canned. Rogers is supposedly still in the picture and Angelo wanted Chudzinski evidently......

Agreed. But, if he could have been had for 3 mill, I would have signed him, traded Theriot and used him as a stopgap until Castro is truly ready.

I've made my peace with Jimmy. He was a huge part of that 2008 team. I have no bitterness towards him either, I just don't want him to play well for a division rival. My thoughts as well. But, if he does play well, it's still going to be the Cardinal fans hating it the most, so it's at least a minor plus, if he does play well again......

Did someone post Law's Cubs top 10 and I just missed it?

It's just a minor league deal as it is, but one that could definitely pay dividends potentially. Kind of like our deal with Tracy......Being out of baseball since 2008 though and Jim's age as well, could mean this is the end of his road as well.

I thought Gaub does have great stuff? Didn't Callis say he's the best lefty reliever in the minors? If not Callis, I know someone did anyway.....

Per MLBTRADERUMORS

Solid showing for sure by the Cubs. Castro's ranking doesn't really surprise me, since Law is SO high on him. Vitters at 30 is higher than I've seen anyone else have him at this point. Jay Jackson at 50 is awfully nice to see, considering I can see him at the tail end of BA's list, if he even makes it. Cashner at 79 seems about where he'll wind up on alot of lists. Not really surprised Lee didn't make it, probably needs a full season under his belt. Although I'm not sure if Law ranked anyone else who was in short season ball or not. I am kind of surprised B Jackson didn't make it, but Law may just not like him......

Byrnes is going to make the league minimum. He's already getting paid by the D-Backs for his actual contract. This would be just like the Cubs signing of Edmonds, other than the fact that Byrnes is very likely to suck.

He's going to get paid the minimum anyway, since Arizona DFA'd him, they're responsible for paying off his actual contract. But, there isn't a spot for him on this club. Is he potentially better than Fuld as a 5th OFer? Statistically speaking, I don't see it. Not to mention the fact that I'm not even sure Fuld has a spot on the opening day roster as it is. Assuming we go with 12 pitchers, our backups are going to be Hill, one of Fontenot or Baker, Blanco, Nady, and one of either Fuld or Tracy, if there are no injuries coming out of spring training. At least that's what I'm figuring anyway......

By the way, it IS possible to have a bunch of low production guys from your farm all on the same team at least. The Red Sox have Youkilis, Pedroia, Papelbon, Lester, Ellsbury, and Buchholz. Obviously, some of them signed longterm contracts, but they have all been developed within a 5 year period basically. I went on baseballcube to see how some of these guys were ranked, back in their prospect days and here's what I came up with...... Youkilis was never a top 100 guy, but was considered 3-4 in their system while coming up. He made it to the bigs in 2004. Pedroia was ranked 77th in 2006. Papelbon was ranked 37th in 2006, Lester was 22nd the same year. Ellsbury was 13th in 2008 and Buchholz was 4th the same year......So, while they weren't ALL in the system at the same time, they did all make it to the majors within a 5 year period at least.

And the Johnny Damon camp is officially in panic mode......

The Yankees supposedly said they would have signed Nady to this deal, but weren't given these parametets to get the deal done.

You'd be lucky to have 10 of them in the majors, let alone all on the Cubs. If that happens some of those guys will be dealt by then. That's 10 pre free agency guys right there, likely an incredibly cost effective ballclub. The Cubs currently have what, 4-5 guys on their team now who were in the system 5 years ago? I'd like to think they have 2 position players that will be real contributors by then, and 2-3 more pitchers. I guess what I didn't account for was that we'd probably have 10 system guys on our major league roster, but not ALL of them will literally be from what's CURRENTLY in the system. It'd be nice to think Soto and Marmol will still be around at that point, along with maybe one or two of Marshall/Guzman/Wells/Shark as well.

Really no way? really? I guess you have a crystal ball in your room i'm guessing. The guy is making a guess at what could happen. Its definitely a possibility, its all based on potential, it either pans out or it doesn't, so yes, it is a possibility. Yeah, and it's an extremely unlikely overly enthusiastic guess that is very similar to ones many people have made before. I agree that I've been extrtemely enthusiastic in these predictions. I even agree that if this stuff comes anywhere close to fruition, we've got one of, if not THE, best minor league system in baseball right now.(and no, I don't believe that we do, probably in the top 10 though once some of these guys make it to higher levels) At the very least though(and I think that this is much more realistic) I see Castro and B Jackson in our everyday lineup doing what I said they would do. Adding Lee is very ambitious. So was putting Rhee down as a mid rotation type starter. But, I do think that with our pitching prospects, SOMEONE can make it to that point within that time frame. I do think that 10ish guys or so within the system right now WILL be on our major league roster 5 years from now though. I'm sure there will be some bench players and relievers making up a good bit of the 10, but I do see our system as very solid right now. So, if we can come out of it with 2-3 everyday players and 2 guys who are in our rotation as well, it's not going to shock me. I think that I'd go as far as to say I expect that.

Yeah, I didn't turn out a bunch of busts. What got me thinking about this was actually Sickels look back at the top 50 hitters from 2005, where there were a ton of busts too. I guess it would obviously been easy to predict B Jackson starts showing a bigtime hole in his swing and doesn't make it to the majors. For some reason though, I see us hitting on him. Cashner being a setup guy could kind of be construed as a bust, I guess. I came close to having us trade Lee at some point too, since he very easily could be too big to play 2B.

Yep, I agree completely.

I know we've all came up with prospect lists, but we also know that not nearly all of these guys will pan out like we're hoping they will. Here are my predictions, with some surprises and some we completely expect. Everyone will have different ideas, which is what I want to see. A prospect list isn't based on what we really expect longterm, but where they are right now in lots of cases...... I'm going to go with a round number of 10 guys, as far as what I think will be on our major league roster come 2014. So here goes....... Castro-SS Heading towards being elite, .300ish hitter, 10-15 homer power, with excellent defense. Not a great OBP, but on his way to being an ALL Star. B Jackson- CF A fan favorite with 20-20 ability. Injured alot though, but solid 5-6 type hitter for us with a nice OBP. Lee- 2B With Castro firmly entrenched at SS, 2B is the onlu spot left for Lee, with Jackson in CF. The 1-2 spots in our lineup are set for a very long time. Flaherty- Util Takes over for Baker in this area, a poor man's DeRo. Very valuable to us though, as he hits for some pop and can play all over. Gaub- LHP LOOGY all the way, has value to us, but is getting pricey at this point for us in his role. Cashner- RHP Never makes it as a SP, settles in as a setup guy, hasn't gotten the chance to close yet, but we aren't comfortable in giving it to him anyway. Coleman RHP- Winds up as our next version of Randy Wells. Just gets guys out, although we aren't sure how some of the time. Solid 4=5 guy who eats innings for us. Rhee= The splitter comes back with a vengeance and he makes his way to the majors by mid-2012. We're looking at him as a very solid 3. Rusin- Our next Sean Marshall, he just comes up as along guy and never gets a chance to start for us. Parker- Just a middle innings guy, winds up as a poor man's Wuertz, but is a guy who sticks at least. The guys we've dealt...... Vitters- We hold onto him a bit long, but he winds up as a starter in LF for a small market team. We could have gotten more at one point, but it's not as bad as the Pie deal by any stretch......We're seeing Franceour here at this point. J Jackson- Deal him and some others at the deadline in 2011 for an ace. Winds up as a very solid 3-4 guy, who also is the best hitting pitcher in baseball at this point. Raley- Moves quickly, kind of stalls in AA. We don't get great value for him, but he's nothing more than a 5th anyway, if we'd have kept him. Barney- We get very little for him(middle inning reliever) and watch him go on to be a decent starter for a small market team. Antigua- Pitches great for us, but we don't seem to value him all that highly, nor do the publications. Once he's dealt, he's our next Ricky Nolasco to look back on..... Caridad- Bullpen arm who gets shuttled back and forth from Iowa a bunch in 2010. We get rid of him, ala Ascanio, no huge loss here. Stevens- Same as Caridad. Fuld- serves as our 5th OFer for 3 years. We dump him, instead of paying him in arbitration and he has one good Podsednik type year, before crashing back down. Burke- Dealt in same trade as J Jackson, top 50 prospect at this point. Winds up as a decent starter in RF. Castillo- Serves as our backup C for a few years, but we release him and upgrade with someone else. We don't miss him. And the total flame outs, or at least guys who still haven't made it to the show..... Carpenter- Stalls in AA, arm issues come back and he never makes a major league pitch. Archer- Control issues, coupled with us moving him back and forth from the rotation to the pen keep him from ever making an impact. Watkins- Lack of power catches up to him, begins to get overmatched in AA. OPSing .650ish or so once he gets there. LeMahieu- Lack of power and lack of position catch up to him as well. Sort of falls off the radar quickly for us. Dolis- Never harnesses everything for us. Kind of engima, since he has great stuff. Is eventually claimed by someone through rule V draft, but doesn't stick. Searle- Attitude and weight issues catch up to him, but only after he teases us with a solid year in AA first. Colvin- Constantly shuttled back and forth from Iowa, never beats out Fuld and goes away fairly soon. Guyer= Power doesn't come back, without a huge drop in everything else. Is tried as a utility guy, but we have plenty of them. Lake- 2 more 150 K 20 walk seasons and he's quickly a name from the past. Huseby- Starts getting hit harder once he gets to AA, loses confidence, and that's kind of it for him. Kirk- Sitting in AAA for us, we're thinking he could do a decent job in the pen possibly, but we have lots of these guys..... Ridling- The name only gets him so far, as he never makes it out of Daytona. Bristow- On the 40 man, along with Kirk. Except he's our new Mitch Atkins. Has been hit hard, but may get a shot at some point in the pen anyway. Spencer- Doesn't hit well for us and we eventually release him. Gets picked up and has a solid year. Think Dopirak. Tony Thomas- AAAA player all the way...... Anyway, here's my thoughts. Just thought it'd be fun to see what others are thinking longterm on some of these guys......

Oooh. Not me, because that would mean he's probably on the damn All Star team.

I agree that Watkins being ranked THAT high is a tad much. 10-15ish on him, if you ask me. The back end of that list does look kind of weak, but it's missing Searle, Guyer, Huseby, and Ridling, who show up on most top 30's. It's also missing Rusin, Kirk, and Darvill from last year's draft, who you'd at least think 2 of those guys make our top 30 next year anyway. It's also missing guys like Kim, Jung, Na, Chen, the two Wangs :mrgreen: and the Alcantara kid, of which some are sure to crack next year's top 30 as well. Cerda could jump in there too, for that matter. I guess what I'm saying is our system is in much better shape than seeing guys like Chirinos, Mateo, and maybe a few of the others show up on it. As for the 15th ranking by BA? I was hoping for 12ish or so, but I can see us moving up steadily over the next few years anyway. And it's at least a clear indication, that we're definitely on the right track.

I had no idea that Tracy and Hoffpauir are the same age. I'd be OK with this move.